The Importance Of The Affordable Care Act

2160 words - 9 pages

As American transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “money often costs too much”. This famous quote can be interpreted in many different ways; it seems very logical in parallel to the idea that money can result in a high social and moral cost. As individualistic as American society is, the preference for monetary stability has become a higher priority for Americans than general societal health and stability. It is then not a surprise that the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as ObamaCare) has become one of the most controversial health care reforms as it looks to improve the health care system for the country whilst conflicting with cost reform at the same time. Essentially, the ACA is a program that works to entirely reform the government’s health insurance by raising taxes in order to improve quality and affordability. This taxation is done in order to provide everyone, those from different socioeconomic backgrounds, with a good and competent health care plan. The purpose of this essay is to show the importance of the ACA, as general health is more important than monetary cost.
Formerly, the ACA has been controversial in many presidential elections and so no one has ever been entirely successful in materializing the idea of universal health care until the Obama administration in 2010. This fight, for health care reform, can be traced back to1935 when president Franklin Roosevelt unsuccessfully pushed for the implementation of universal health care in congress, followed by more unsuccessful attempts by Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton.
“The most important and fundamental difficulty facing healthcare reformers in America is that our system of government has multiple veto points: the separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, and various parliamentary tactics including the Senate filibuster. All these things make—indeed, were designed to render—change difficult.” (Juniata voices 88)
Obama’s successful fight culminated in the ACA bill being signed on March 23, 2010, and put into action on January 1st of 2014.
When looking at pros of the ACA, perhaps one of the most important is the abolition of pre-existing conditions. “A “pre-existing condition” is a health condition that exists before someone applies for or enrolls in a new health insurance policy. Insurers generally define what constitutes a pre-existing condition.” (At Risk 2) Historically, insurance companies have been able to deny insurance to people with pre-existing conditions. This “condition” has allowed companies to discriminate and reject people with cases such as cancer, asthma, and high blood pressure. According to studies from the Department of Health and Human Services, one out of two Americans fall into this category of having a pre-existing condition. Since the beginning of 2014 when the ACA became fully active, it also became illegal for companies to refuse health insurance based solely on pre-existing conditions. For...

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